Thomas Bjorn, Age 52, Contending in Irish Open at a Course Where He's Seen Calamity

The Great Dane once shot a Sunday 86 at the K Club after starting with a four-shot lead. His battle now is against Father Time.

STRAFFAN, Ireland — Thomas Bjorn has a history with The K Club and while Thursday’s 66 in the first round of the Irish Open is a happy memory, the past has been nightmarish at times, causing any professional golfer to rethink their career choice.

The good came after a lengthy stint on the injured list with an issue with his collarbone that he suffered on the Tuesday of the BMW International Open in Munich in June.

Playing no golf at all eventually the collarbone felt better, but then his lower back added three weeks to what would be a total of 10 weeks’ time off.

So, with just nine holes and little practice, which didn’t inspire confidence, the 52-year-old teed it up at 8:10 a.m. local time just behind the threesome of Rory McIlroy, Adrian Meronk and Billy Horschel.

Thomas Bjorn, 52, turned back the clock with an opening 66 Thursday at the Irish Open :: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

“No expectations, woke up this morning and in your mind, you're thinking anything in the lower 70s is an unbelievable achievement from the amount of practice,” Bjorn said. “Just shows us how silly the game can be, it's just like, when you have no expectations, you go out and play and enjoy yourself.”

After three birdies, including back-to back on the 17th and 18th, his first nine of the day, Bjorn turned at 3 under and those competitive juices and all the stuff that comes with playing well came back in a hurry. "The Great Dane," as he’s known to many started to flow.

Four birdies over the next eight holes put Bjorn’s name on the top of the leaderboard and only a bogey on the 9th, his last, dropped him into a tie for the morning-wave lead with Jordan Smith and Ross Fisher at 6 under .

“I'm fortunate, I've played this golf course so many times, it’s a long time ago; we played here every year, but it's always been the same fairways and greens,” Bjorn said. “I drove it very well today. I drove it in the middle of the fairway. I think I missed one fairway in this round of golf, and then this golf course becomes a lot easier to deal with.”

Now the bad—Bjorn’s history at The K Club can be traced over 20 years back when it hosted the European Open.

At the 2005 Smurfit European Open, Bjorn started the Sunday final round with a four-shot lead.

An erratic 3-over front nine and a double bogey on the 10th, still didn’t derail his chance of success and a ninth career win.

A birdie on the 14th expanded Bjorn’s lead to two shots, but the next four holes would define calamity as Bjorn would go 10 over par in the stretch, highlighted by rinsing a sleeve of balls in the creek that was part of the 17th hole and taking an 11 at the par 4. 

Bjorn would call that Sunday his worst day in his golf life after seeing a win turn into an 86 and a tie for 33rd.

Though he seemingly forgot the six-hole debacle the year before when he pulled out of the 2004 European Open citing his battle with demons. Bjorn bogeyed four of the first five holes at The K Club and then on the 6th told playing competitors Paul Casey and Michael Campbell he was done.

“I just can’t face being in a tournament situation at the moment,” The Irish Examiner reported Bjorn had said. “I still have as much love for this game as I’ve ever had, but I want to get away, sit down and think about what I need to do.

Bjorn had just returned from playing a stint in the U.S. of five tournaments, missing the cut in four and recording a combined total of 53 over par.

He was clearly ready for some down time.

Today, Bjorn is fighting Father Time more than demons, and he is trying to win his first title on the DP World Tour since the 2013 Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.

“I want to wake up tomorrow morning and just feel like you know, go out and try and put another round together as good as you can and not really think about what happened today and not what's happening on the weekend,” Bjorn said. “Make good decisions on the golf course and try and execute shots and not be scared."